E.W. Scripps is more than a person or a school – it’s a state of mind. Students have studied at Ohio University’s Journalism school for decades, but it isn’t what they did in their four (or five) years at Ohio University that sets them apart. It’s what they did when they graduate that truly shows why Scripps is a name that carries prestige. I wanted to take a moment to highlight some recent and not so recent grads of Scripps that have found success beyond the bricks of Athens.

As a proud member of the Scripps’ Public Relations Student Society of America, no list of mine would dare to start without Aaron Brown. Aaron graduated from Ohio University in 2001 and has been a PR Success ever since. While at Ohio University Aaron was a proud PRSSA member and had internships at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Babcock & Wilcox. In 2008, Aaron joined the team at Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations as an Associate Vice President. His hard work and Scripps-bred work ethic allowed him to rise to his current position of Senior Vice President. Aaron Brown has traditionally been the speaker at the first Scripps PRSSA meeting of the school year in the fall, so make sure to stop by and meet this success this fall!

Amanda Stefanik graduated from E.W. Scripps in 2012 and has been succeeding ever since. During her years at Ohio University, Amanda was a member of PRSSA, ImPRessions, AVW and Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. She also held various internships including one with the Miss Universe Organization. Upon graduation, Amanda accepted a job at PR Newswire where she currently works as Business Development Representative. Her role includes working with business across all industries to better their marketing and communication efforts.

Devin Bartolotta graduated from E.W. Scripps in 2013 with a focus in broadcast journalism. While at Ohio University, Devin interned with WABC-TV’s investigative unit in New York, NY, and with WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Devin was also a member of Omicron Gamma chapter of Delta Zeta Sorority, and part of the winning team at the first Scripps Innovation Challenge. After graduating Devin accepted a Weekend Anchor Position at Rochester, Minnesota’s NBC affiliate, KTTC-TV. Within her first year in a brand new state, Devin survived winter, adopted a puppy and won the Associated Press’ first place award in the 2013 Minnesota Broadcast contest for her “Hearts of Hope” story. Devin’s work at KTTC and her ability to move and make the most out of a career in a new place demonstrates exactly why she is successful Scrippster in my eyes.

I met Allison Jordan at the first PRSSA meeting of the 2012 school year. Even then, I, and many others, knew Allison would do great things. As the 2012-2013 president of Scripps PRSSA, Allison was able to show that she was already a professional and a leader even before graduating. While at Ohio University, Allison was able to leave her mark on Scripps though her commitment to PRSSA and her willingness to mentor any and every underclassmen that reached out to her. Upon graduating in Spring 2013, Allison moved to Chicago to work for Zocalo Group, but has recently accepted and Account Executive position at Global Prairie in Cleveland. Her hard work and attitude truly exemplifies what it means to be a Scripps success and a Bobcat Alumni.

Narrowing down the list of Successful Scrippsters was no easy task, but that’s what makes Scripps so special. The fact remains that there are so many graduates of Scripps that I and many others consider successful. Scripps breeds success, and it’s only for the sake of word count that this list ends at four of them. Make the most of your years at OU – you never know where those experiences will take you, and good luck to all of our 2014 Scripps grads! (Even though you probably don’t need it.)

As the anticipation of AVW Week approached, the ImPRessions AVW Productions account was hard at work, planning for perfection. AVW Week is happening this week and will continue through Sunday. As the Account Executive, I worked closely with Elyse Freeman, the Assistant Account Executive, and Thomas Sinard, the Marketing Manager of AVW. Our wonderful and hard-working associates are Alex Davies, Angela Keane, Brooke Robinson, Carolyn Nachman, Erica Stonehill, Jill Kata, Kat Safreed, Megan Valentine, Rachel Fleig and Rachel Shehy.

The week of events has included the release of the new AVW website on Monday, commercial releases on Tuesday and producer interviews on Wednesday. On Thursday, AVW hosted an AVW Fair in Baker 226 from 3 p.m. to 7p.m. so students can learn more about the organization. Tonight, AVW will have a premiere in the Bobcat Student Lounge from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. where members can see a new and collaborative episode from AVW Newstime and Fridays Live. On Saturday, students around campus will be participating in AVW’s newest show, TOUR. You can follow them with the hashtag #TOUREP1. AVW Week will wrap up with the video game tournament hosted by Tech Heads starting at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday in Baker 240.

In order to plan and execute these events in the best way possible, we decided to split our associates up into two teams: event planning and media relations. Our two teams worked to complete and pitch a press release, make a flyer, pitch to classes throughout the week, talk to businesses in order to get food and prizes donated, brainstorm ideas and event names, social media and anything and everything else we asked them to do. It has been amazing to watch each of our associates step up to the plate and complete each and every task above and beyond the expectations we had set.

Events such as AVW Week allow students to create, pitch and implement their own ideas, helping them to grow further in love with their major. We have seen so many associates grow as leaders throughout the planning of AVW Week, and can’t wait to see what the rest of the week brings!

You can follow #AVWweek on AVW’s Twitter, Facebook and new Instagram account.

May 23, 2011

By Clare Lanning Associate, AVW Productions account

Upon starting spring quarter, our goal for AVW Productions was to continue generating ways to extend their network using social media. Since Greek Week is one of the most anticipated weeks of the year for Greek life on campus, with around 10 percent of the student body participating, our ImPRessions team thought that there would be no better event to cover to bring more publicity and awareness to AVW, particularly Ohio Sports Zone (OSZ).

Eager and excited to participate in the annual Greek activities, we began to brainstorm how OSZ could be incorporated into the events and get the student body involved and intrigued by AVW. After discussing it with the AVW productions team, we decided to dedicate a whole OSZ show to Greek Week that would capture all the events of the week.

The most popular event of Greek Week is Air Bands. We aimed to capture the spirit of the event and create a competition. Starting April 17, anyone who “liked” the AVW Productions Facebook page could participate in the Greek Week Competition and vote for their favorite air band team by “liking” the team’s album cover. The winning team who had the most “likes” by April 28, would receive a professionally made DVD of their Air Band performance.

Members of the AVW ImPRessions team spread the word about the competition and it started off very successful with hundreds of students liking the page. OSZ was filming throughout the entire Greek Week and had planned on putting clips of the highlights on the AVW Facebook page daily to generate more interest for the show. Also, the producer of OSZ, Mike Zorbas, was going to select his favorite team from each event and that team will be featured in a segment called “Producer’s Pick.”

Everything was executed and planned to perfection until the middle of the competition when we were informed that the Greeks were no longer willing to cooperate. Our efforts to generate positive publicity for OSZ and AVW were not appreciated by the Greek committee. They viewed the competition as becoming “too competitive” and as an event that was taking the spirit out of Greek Week. This was no our intention as we were trying to work with the Greek organization in a positive way. As an account in ImPRessions, we would like to see this competition possibly continue in the upcoming years, but it is obvious that better communication must take place. It was obvious, from the student body responses and reactions to the competition, that contact with the Greek committee must start at the beginning of the year in order for everything to run smoothly.

Although our plan and creativity was extremely beneficial, we could have used a back-up plan and done further research with the Greek committee to prevent the unfortunate series of events that occurred. Overall this was a major learning experience for our account and something we hope other ImPRessions teams can learn from as well.

February 21, 2011

By Myranda Owca Associate, ImPRessions account

PHOTO PROVIDED BY AVW PRODUCTIONS

The AVW Productions Valentine Variety show was a hit. The event featured stand-up comedy from the company’s comedy shows, Fridays Live and Baby Mountain. The event also featured numerous performances and bands such as, Eudora Pelerson, Daniel Ahrens, Zachary Coleman, Jake Loew, Dan Baker and The Trap Kings.

The Valentine Variety Show took place in The Front Room in Baker Center Wednesday, Feb. 9 at seven thirty and ended around nine thirty. There was constant attention from students who came to watch with their friends for some nightly entertainment, others who came to study, and people passing through just grabbing some coffee.

The event went off flawlessly due to the ImPRessions team vigorously planning and marketing the event. Prior to the event the team was busy hanging fliers around campus getting the word out. The day of the variety show the account had a hot chocolate give-away also at Baker Center to promote the event and get people talking.

All their hard work seemed to really pull off a great show in the end. The account made it look effortless since the show went off without a hitch. The success of the show genuinely reflected all the behind the scenes publicity they did with a great turn out and an impressive show for everyone to see.

The whole program was recorded and AVW will be uploading clips later in the week so be keeping your eyes open if you missed out on attending last week! Until then check out the AVW YouTube channel.

October 11, 2010

By Becca Reif Associate, ImPRessions Account

In keeping their commitment to entertainment PR, ImPRessions has made AVW Productions the newest addition to their client list. In an attempt to boost awareness and attention for the 14 different student-produced television shows that AVW offers, ImPRessions is planning to use surveys, events, and social media to promote their client.

“AVW is receiving constant competition from the local WOUB television network, which has an advantage not only in viewers, but in funding as well,” said Sarah Rucker, marketing manager for AVW, during her first meeting with ImPRessions. Of the 14 shows that AVW produces, they plan to focus on promoting their three most popular shows: “Fridays Live” (a spin-off Saturday night live), “Confused” (a children’s show), and “Ohio Sports Zone” (a show reporting about OU Athletics).

As main focus of their attempts to promote AVW, ImPRessions is preparing to survey the OU student body to help get insight about what students really know about the network. They believe that gaining more knowledge through student surveys will help them figure out the best way to gain more viewers for AVW.

ImPRessions plans to start their promotion for AVW’s “Ohio Sports Zone” this upcoming basketball season by asking local bars to turn on the show when it comes out on Thursday and Friday nights. Additionally, ImPRessions plans to design advertisements, host events and launch a social media campaign to help popularize AVW’s top three shows.

“We are very excited to add AVW Productions to our already-impressive client list,” said Devin Hughes, chief executive officer for ImPRessions. “AVW Productions boasts a great deal of talented students and I look forward to working with them.”